Source: WalletHub
News Radio 1310 KLIX logo
Enter your number to get our free mobile app

We often fret about costs associated with immigrants in Idaho.  A new survey by WalletHub says the state is near the bottom when it comes to economic impact.  Which isn’t the same as cost to government (taxpayers), mainly associated with illegal immigration.

From reading the report I gather much of this is based on immigrant contributions to business.  In fact, among the top 10 states is a place where I used to live.  Six miles from my house was a small town.  It had been bypassed by a new highway.  Old Main Street businesses collapsed as new plazas sprouted by the new road.

A new survey by WalletHub says the state is near the bottom when it comes to economic impact.

Then the entrepreneurs among the Latin population began opening shops and filling a niche.  It reminds me of a popular Mexican grocery near the radio station.  Main Street was revived.

Idaho is 50th when it comes to brains among immigrants.  All states and the District of Columbia are included in the research.  Neighboring Wyoming is 51st when measuring “Brainiacs” among foreigners relocating to a state.

New Jersey benefits most economically from a skilled immigrant workforce.  Averaged on several metrics, New York State is first overall.  We should remember it has a city known as the conduit for immigration in America.  Additionally, Ellis Island’s old intake was between New York City and New Jersey.

Mississippi, which attracts little in the way of immigrant labor averages last in impact.

These, again, are numbers based on legal and not illegal immigration.  The latter isn’t nearly as quantifiable because it’s more difficult to measure the illegal population.

More From News Radio 1310 KLIX